I've done some fencing and it's bloody exhausting... the 'armor' is basically just padded foam with a mesh for your face, but it still wears you down to the point that it becomes an effort just to raise your sabre (which weighs next to nothing).

I can only imagine what it was like to fight in full plate armor with an iron broadsword... it would've sucked.

So when it comes to swordsmanship in videogames, I think an 'unrealistic' approach is preferable... the Witcher Geralt's mutant pirouhettes aren't just entertaining - they're bloody effective.

That said, Crytek's 'Kingdom Come' and Ubisoft's 'For Honour' are both incorporating 'realistic' techniques into their attack/defence mechanics, albiet in very different ways to one-another... it will be interesting to see how they're recieved in this post-Arkham era.

I think my biggest problem with most melee focused games is that once you've made your choice and pressed a button you have little or no control over the strike until its animation is complete. In reality only a super heavy sword would work like this, with any medium or smaller weapon you're able to make adjustments to the trajectory or your weapon during the swing.

If I remember right, Jedi Knight II had a nice amount of aftertouch on your moves. I'd quite like to see a combat system based on weapon weight, the heavier the weapon the less control you have during a swing but obviously the reward is more damage.